WINDHOEK, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's stock of foreign reserves rose at the end of December 2017 to 29.7 billion Namibian dollars (2.48 billion U.S. dollars) from 28.5 billion Namibian dollars (2.38 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of November, the Bank of Namibia announced on Thursday.
The central bank attributed the increase in the level of reserves mainly due to inflows from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and the second disbursement of an African Development Bank loan during the review period.
The southern African country announced in May that it had secured a 10 billion Namibian dollars (830 million U.S. dollars) loan from the African Development Bank to finance its budget deficit and infrastructure projects.
The loan will be distributed over a two-year period with 6 billion Namibian dollars (500 million U.S. dollars) allocated for budget support, while 4 billion Namibian dollars (333 million U.S. dollars) will be used to finance infrastructure in sectors such as transport and renewable energy.
